ADRENALINE: New 2013 edition Read Online Free PDF Page B

wouldn’t have the faintest concern for these anyway.
    By the time the meeting broke up at 9:15, Doug was tired and anxious to go home. It had been a long day, and he knew he’d have to be in here bright and early the next day. He walked out of the building together with Mike Carlucci. The two men stopped at Mike’s Suburban.
    “Well, what’d you think?” Doug asked. He spoke in a hushed tone as they both noticed Bryan Marshall and Joe Raskin engaged in a similar post-meeting chat at the far end of the parking lot.
    “I dunno Doug—I wish we coulda waited ’til next week to discuss it. I mean he really doesn’t know anything yet.”
    “Yeah, you’re right,” Doug said, shivering in the December wind. “Hey, wanna grab some coffee or dessert? It’s too cold to stand out here and talk.” Frequently, the two of them would stop somewhere after corporate meetings to conduct the post-mortem analysis.
    “Not tonight, Doug. I gotta go home.”
    Doug, for the second time in the evening, sensed a slight distance in Mike. “You OK Mike? You know, with your case and all?”
    “Yeah, sure. I’m dealing with it.” Mike paused as a gust of wind roared by, rendering speech impossible. “Wonder how long it’ll take ’em to sue?”
    “Not sure, Mike—you don’t know they will,” Doug offered limply. The two men stared past each other. There was an awkward silence as Doug struggled to find other words of comfort. He couldn’t.
    “I’ll see you tomorrow, Doug,” Mike finally said with a pained expression. “Take care.”
    “Yeah, you too.” They each headed for their vehicle. Doug realized that a lawsuit was virtually guaranteed and that they both knew it.
    Doug paused at his truck, turned, and gazed up at the hospital. The wind bit into him, urging him to seek cover inside his truck, but he stood his ground. The hospital loomed dark and massive in front of him, blotting out half the night sky. The building, cloaked partly in shadows, was a Frankenstein patchwork of ill-fitting additions, and clashing architecture. Its jagged roofline was littered with microwave antennae, ductwork, and chimneys. Amonstrous concrete parking garage, newly constructed, attached to the body proper via two enclosed aboveground walkways.
    Doug wondered about the future of Mercy’s anesthesia department. Was it about to undergo radical surgery? Was the answer somehow linked to the department’s murky past? He realized he knew precious little about the department’s early years, and for the first time, it bothered him. Discussions of the past were conspicuously absent. Details about it were glossed over; direct questions rebuffed.
    What were Marshall and Raskin talking about?

CHAPTER THREE

    Bryan Marshall walked back into the building from the cold parking lot and headed to his office. He thought the meeting had gone about as well as could be expected, although he noted Carlucci wasn’t holding up well with the strain of his case.
    He unlocked his office and stepped in. He knew it was late and he should be getting home but figured he had time for a quick look. He sat down at his desk and unlocked the bottom drawer. Toward the back, behind some files, was a metal box with another lock. Using the small key hung on the chain around his neck, he unlocked the box. Marshall pulled out a stack of photographs and riffled through them until he found the one he was looking for. The chosen photo was faded somewhat and looking a little worn, but he didn’t care.
    “Karen, Karen,” he muttered to himself. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, coaxing the old memory to life; it wasn’t the first time. He could see and hear her as plainly as if she were in the room.
    “Stop that! What are you doing?” Karen McCarthy squirmed out of his embrace.
    Marshall nodded slightly at her shrill tone; it definitely pleased him. “I’m just trying to gauge your interest in your current position, Miss McCarthy,” he said.
    “What do you